Je matka mrtvá

The painter Johanna has lived in the USA for the last thirty years with her husband and son. But her son has a life of his own, her husband has died and Johanna has been offered a major solo exhibition by a gallery in Oslo. And so she returns to Norway.
But the real reason for her return is different: Johanna wants to meet her mother, with whom she has had almost no contact for three decades. Impulsively, she picks up the phone and calls her. On the other end, however, she receives a rejection. The desire to talk to her mother, to understand the real reason for their split, which goes back deep into the past, gradually turns into an obsession. The emotional tension escalates with each desperate attempt to contact her or find out about her, and with each new memory of childhood and adolescence in a seemingly perfect family. Which version of the memories is the true one? Is it possible to cut my mother out of my life? Can a mother be dead even if she is still alive?
The novel Is Mother Dead delivers an intense, feverishly and eloquently told story about the closest yet most complex of interpersonal relationships. It tells of the longing for closeness, understanding and acceptance, but also for self-realization, independence and freedom.

The publication of the book was supported by the NORLA Foundation for Norwegian Literature Abroad.